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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


THE WORLD’S GREATEST NATIONAL LIBRARY 


SPEECH 

OF 

HON. S. D. FESS 

OF OHIO 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 


DECEMBER 29, 1920 





WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1921 

26623—21236 











I 


SPEECH 



OF 


HON. S. D. FESS. 


THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS-THE WORLD’S GREATEST NATIONAL 

LIBRARY. 

Mr. FESS. Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, when I 
asked one or two Members of the House for their views as to 
whether a statement of the Congressional Library in its organi¬ 
zation and in its work would be of value to the Members of the 
House, I was assured that such a statement might be advisable 
and might be interesting. At the time I was not aware of the 
character of the program I was to follow. 

The House of Representatives has been eulogized in the hour 
preceding, largely because of the personal element that enters 
into the membership of the body; and yet all that was said that 
was of value by any Member that spoke is distinctively of less 
importance than what is not said. Uncle Joe Cannon owes it 
to bis country, and especially to the membership of this House, 
in the past and present and to be, to reduce to writing in the 
form of reminiscences the interesting episodes that will supply 
the finest source of history during the greater period of our 
national development. 

And whatever has been said about the wonderful career of 
this wonderful man, that which lias not been uttered and which, 
I fear, will not be written or spoken is of most importance. 
Members of this body have pleaded with the distinguished 
ex-Speaker over and over again to take the time to put into per¬ 
manent shape, in form of reminiscences covering these 43 years, 
the richest source of American history available. 1 fear that 
we will not get it. The Library across the way is to-day rich 
because of the valuable papers it contains that represent the 
utterances of the great statesmen, many of which were made 
at random. It contains utterances of a dozen of our Presi¬ 
dents whose papers we have, and which are recognized of the 
greatest importance to the country. We have also utterances 
of some of the greatest editors, like Charles A. Dana, whose 
reminiscences of the Civil War, touching the inner life of Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln, supply the finest picture of that great character 
now extant; and how rich would be the acquisition covering 
the last 50 years if Uncle Joe Cannon would put in form and 
have placed in the Library the richness of his public life that 
none of us knows much about except as a fugitive story here 
and there. If this is lost to our country, it will be a great 
mistake. 

East of the Capitol stands the most beautiful building in the 
world, the creation of the genius of the architect, sculptor, and 
painter. Within its walls is found a collection of publications 
which is rapidly overtaking the Bibliotlieque Nationale of Paris 
2 26623—21236 




Daniel Murray, 
Washington, D. C, 


A 


I 


199 <5 



3 


and the British Museum of London, the only other libraries 
which exceed in number of books the Congressional Library. 

In this Library is found the world’s greatest collection of 
musical composition, as well as the first rank in the number 
of maps. The Library, hence, is not only the most superb in its 
beauty of design, but its arrangement for practical use is the 
most complete. The building covers 34 acres and has 8 acres 
of floor space. It has 100 miles of shelving to accommodate 
3,500,000 volumes, which may be extended to at least twice that 
amount. The library service in delivering books operates almost 
like a metallic mind. 

Like all other great institutions, this had its small and in¬ 
significant beginning. It started some time before the begin¬ 
ning of the last century with the appointment of a committee 
to report on need and selection of suitable books. Five thousand 
dollars was appropriated * in 1800. Beekley, of Virginia, was 
appointed librarian by Jefferson in 1802. The first catalogue was 
of nine pages, prepared in 1802. the Library then containing 964 
volumes and 9 maps, classified on the basis of size into quarters, 
octavos, and so forth. The purpose of the Library was stated 
by Senator Mitchill in 1800 to he “to furnish the Library with 
such materials as will enable statesmen to be correct in their 
investigations, and by a becoming display of erudition and re¬ 
search give a higher dignity and a brighter luster to truth.” 

The catalogue of 1812 contained titles of 3,076 volumes and 
53 maps and charts. When the Capitol was burned in 1814 by 
the British, the Library had cost all told about .$9,000 for books 
and operation. The librarian’s salary was at first $2 per day. 
The Library was destroyed August 24, and on September 21 
Jefferson wrote from his home tendering his library to Con¬ 
gress. The committee was authorized by act of Congress to pur¬ 
chase the 7,000 volumes for $23 950, which was done in January, 
1815. Jefferson catalogued the library, which was later de¬ 
clared by Spofford as “an admirable selection of the best an¬ 
cient and modern literature up to the beginning of the present 
century.” These books were hauled from Monticello to Wash¬ 
ington in farm wagons. 

From 1815 to 1851 the Library grew from 7,000 to 55,000 
volumes. 

On the evening of December 22, 1825, Edward Everett dis¬ 
covered a fire in the gallaries of the Library, and he, assisted 
by Daniel Webster and other Members of Congress, put it out. 
In 1851 a second fire destroyed all but 20,000 volumes of the 
then handsome collection of 55,000 volumes. Only one-third of 
the Jefferson collection was saved. Congress at once took steps 
to rebuild the loss. Before the year was ended in several spe¬ 
cific acts it had appropriated $263,700 for the purpose. Ten 
years later a general catalogue of 1,398 pages was published. 
In 1869 the last complete catalogue, arranged by subjects, was 
published in two volumes of 1,744 pages. 

The card catalogue was adopted about 1865, and was per¬ 
fected from time to time to its present wonderfully serviceable 
system. 

In 1864 A. R. Spofford was selected as librarian, and that 
year might be taken as the beginning of the third stage of 
Congressional Library history. Congress sympathetically re¬ 
sponded to legislative demands. Frequent appropriations were 
26G23—21236 


4 


voted and many private collections were secured after the 
fashion of the famous beginning in 1S15. Three years after the 
selection of Spofford, Congress authorized the purchase of the 
valuable collection of Americana from Peter Force. It.contained 
00,000 volumes and cost $100,000. It was regarded as a rare col¬ 
lection of books and pamphlets on American subjects, manu¬ 
scripts, newspapers, maps, autographs, and so forth. About the 
same time the vast collection of the Smithsonian Institution, 
comprising 40,000 volumes, was transferred to the Congressional 
Library. It contained invaluable publications of the various 
learned societies throughout tne world with which the Insti¬ 
tution had exchange arrangements. These publications con¬ 
tained works on natural history, the tine arts, linguistics, bibliog¬ 
raphy, and so forth. 

Accessions were constantly made, among which were, in 
18G6, the Petigru law library; 1882, the manuscript papers of 
Benjamin Franklin; 1883, the Matthew-Carpenter law library; 
1882, the Toner collection of 27,000 volumes, which collection 
contained, among other invaluable publication's, an almost com¬ 
plete collection of copies of letters and papers of Cen. Wash¬ 
ington, copied from every available source, whether published 
or unpublished. 

As far back as 184(5 a provision of the copyright law required 
a deposit in the Library of one copy of every book, map, chart, 
musical composition, print, cut, or engraving that was copy¬ 
righted. In 1870 the law required two copies deposited. This 
requirement insured the Congressional Library as the most com¬ 
plete repository of the American press in existence. This is 
one, if not the chief, source of accessions, which reaches now 
about 1,200 per month. 

It was the ambition of Mr. Spofford, denominated by Editor 
Bowker, of the Library Journal, as the “eighth wonder of the 
world,” to personally serve every Member of both House and 
Senate. Many are the stories fold of this wonderful man, who 
seemed to know not only where every book was on the shelf 
but just where to find anything in any book demanded by the 
legislator. Perhaps no man in Washington was so well and 
favorably known as this man, and certainly no man more widely 
served the great and distinguished figures of his generation, 
whose service was the favorable comment of the statesmen of 
his time. 

Only yesterday one of the attendants in the Congressional 
Library, who has served there 30 years, told me an incident 
where Senator David B. Hill, of New York, came to the Library 
looking for something in relation to Blackstone’s Commentaries. 
He spent over two hours in the research. Just as he was passing 
out he passed Mr. Spofford, who asked him if he had found 
what he wanted. Senator Hill replied that he had not. Mr. 
Spofford wanted to know what it was, and when the Senator 
told him, he said. “ Wait a moment, probably I can help you,” 
and within five minutes he handed to the Senator a volume with 
the page containing the information which the Senator wanted. 

I remember a very interesting incident that is told in con¬ 
nection with Mr. Spofford when a gentleman appeared asking 
for certain information on the Ordnance of 1787. Mr. Spofford 
took down volume after volume, passed it over to the research 
man, and as the research man took the volume, he said, “ It 
2G623—2123G 


5 


is not in this; T have examined that before.” Mr. Spofford 
finally said, “I can not help you; I regret it.” and when the 
gentleman started out Mr. Spofford said, “ Wait a minute, if 
you care to take the time you might go to Marietta, Ohio and 
look up Prof. Andrews, who is the best-informed man on the 
Ordnance of 1787 that I know of. If he can not give it to you. 
I do not know where you can find it.” The gentleman blushed 
and said, ‘‘ I am Prof. Andrews myself.” 

Many interesting incidents could be hunted up from the older 
people here in Washington concerning this remarkable figure, 
who served personally in the Library, which at that time was 
just off the rotunda under the dome. 

While the purpose of the Library was originally limited to 
the service of the legislative department, under Spofford it soon 
extended to both the Supreme Court and the Executive, includ¬ 
ing the various departments and numerous bureaus under the 
departments. The growth was so constant that all available 
space where it was housed in the Capitol Building was occupied. 
In 1897, when the Library was moved to the new quarters, 
600,000 volumes were crowded into a space allotted for but 
400,000 volumes. The rapid growth dates from the entrance 
of Spofford, to whose genius was due not only the fine response 
of the public, both official and nonofficial, but also to the plans 
and execution which resulted in the most complete and superb 
library building of the world. 

Agitation for a new library building began back in 1878. Dis¬ 
cussion continued somewhat intermittently for 13 years. In 
1886 authority was given to purchase a site, which cost $585,000. 
An appropriation of $500,000 was made to begin the construction. 

The original plans were outlined by Architect Smithmeyer. 
Later the construction was placed under the direction of Gen. 
Thomas L. Casey, of the Army. The architectural designs were 
worked out by Paul J. Pelz and Edward P. Casey. In 1896, 
upon the death of Gen. Casey, Bernard R. Green took up and 
completed the building. The total cost was $6,347,000, exclu¬ 
sive of the site, which cost $585,000. A library which had num¬ 
bered about 75,000 volumes in 1864, when Spofford came to its 
head, had grown to nearly 1,000,000 volumes by 1897, when it 
was transferred to its new home in September of that year. 

The housing of the collection of books in the most beautiful 
building in the world was the realization of the dream of Mr. 
Spofford, who expressed the wish to leave the responsibility of 
its expansion to other heads. The former crowded quarters 
had given way to a wonderfully commodious structure of about 
10,000,000 cubic feet of space, where 2,000 readers can be accom¬ 
modated at one time in the midst of one of the world’s greatest 
collections of books, pamphlets, maps, and so forth. Mr. Spof¬ 
ford asked to be relieved and was made a sort of librarian 
emeritus, with Mr. John Russel Young as librarian. In this 
position Spofford continued to his death in 1908. Two years 
after his appointment Mr. Young died. President McKinley 
sought the best possible talent, which was found in Dr. Herbert 
Putnam, the librarian of the Boston Public Library. Dr. Put¬ 
nam was the first specially trained librarian to be selected, and 
he, at the request of the President, accepted the position, al¬ 
though at a substantial financial sacrifice. 

26623—21236 


G 


His service during these more than 20 years is another of 
the many evidences of President McKinley’s remarkable talent 
to call to the service of the Government a high grade of ability. 

1 am hot going into the financial side of this Library; I am 
not going to put this statement into the form of begging an 
appropriation. But I know the membership of the House will 
be more or less concerned of the material appreciation of the 
expert men that are found in this building just across the 
way. 

With this appointment of Mr. Putnam began the fourth stage 
of the growth of the Congressional Library. Up to this time the 
chief activity was confined to the collection of publications and 
the service of the Government here in the Capital. With the 
advent of Dr. Putnam began the present remarkable library 
organization. In 1897 several divisions had already been organ¬ 
ized ; among them were the following: 

1. Division of Manuscript, now employing 4 persons. 

2. Divisiou of Maps and Charts, now employing 6 persons. 

3. Division of Music, now employing 6 persons. 

4. Division of Prints, with 5 persons. 

5. Division of Copyright, with 91 employed at present. 

The Cataloguing Division was created in 1899. 

The Order Division was organized in 1900 and now em¬ 
ploys 13 persons. 

In 1901 were organized the following: 

1. The Card Distribution Section, employing at present 69 
persons. The stock now numbers over 60,000,000 cards. 

2. The Periodical Division. The total number of periodicals 
received is beyond 13,000. Over 1,000 newspapers are received; 
275 foreign. It employs 12 persons. 

The reading room has seating capacity for 250 readers who 
have access to over 400 newspapers and more than 3,500 maga¬ 
zines. Three hundred and seventy-five newspapers are bound 
and now found on the shelves. It employs at present 72 
persons. 

3. The Documents Division. More than 40,000 documents 
are annually received. At least 10,000 are foreign and about 
the same number are from the various States in the Union. It 
employs 7 persons. 

The last 20 years have witnessed the development of this 
Government institution into a genuine national library. This 
has been the ambition of the present librarian who has already 
realized his dream. Dr. Putnam clearly distinguished the 
function of the municipal library, the State library, and the 
university library on the one hand from that of the national 
library on the other. Each of the three former serves a con¬ 
stituency not within the purview of the national library. 

The head of the Library planned to make the national library 
serve the entire country through other libraries in the follow¬ 
ing ways: 

1. By the sale and deposit of catalogue cards, of which there 
are now in stock 60,000,000. 

2. Interlibrary loans by which any person, in however re¬ 
mote part of our country, can secure through the local library 
books from the national library. 

3. Distribution of the publications, including its bibliog¬ 
raphies. 

4. By cooperation in publication. 

26623—21236 




7 


In this way the research investigator is not limited to the 
hooks on the shelves in his local library. In every 1 brary 
center can be found a card catalogue of the Congressional 
Library, which informs the attendants and patrons of the 
various centers of the collections of the national library. This 
organizes the library centers into one stupendous library sys¬ 
tem, with Washington as the center as a general clearing house 
for library information throughout the Nation. It thus serves 
the general reader, who is not limited to the authorities found 
in the Congressional Library, enormous as are the present 
sources, numbering in tbe collection 2,831,338 books and pamph¬ 
lets, 166,448 maps, 829,400 volumes and pieces of music, and 
the 418,976 prints. Through the interlibrary arrangement he 
has access to the collection of about 3,000 libraries scattered 
throughout the Nation. 

By international arrangement, with some additional incon¬ 
venience, he also has access to some of the world’s greatest 
libraries outside of the United States. This arrangement 
exists with 138 libraries, from 24 countries. 

The conception of a great national library was announced 
by the librarian soon after his induction. In 1905 he set out 
the functions in a report in which he referred to tields of re¬ 
search as follows: 

1. A library for special service to the Federal Government. 

2. A library of record for the United States. 

3. A library of research, supplementing other research libra¬ 
ries. 

4. A library for national service; a library which shall 
respond to demands from any part of the country in the aid of 
research. 

This ambitious program has now been realized. 

The municipal library serves an entirely different purpose 
from the university library. The State library serves a pur¬ 
pose that probably would be served by both university and 
municipal. A university library is primarily for research, very 
much like the library in the various governmental depart¬ 
ments. Several of the departments support the finest libraries 
of this kind in the world. 

I have a list of the libraries that are using the national 
library’s stock of cards. It runs very closely to 3,000 libraries. 
I also have a list of the foreign libraries that are using the 
Library of Congress. I think there are by actual count 39 
libraries of foreign countries that draw upon this library here 
in this Capital for research work. I here append the list: 

Number of subscribers to Library Catalogue cards by countries and 

States. 


UNITED STATES. 

Alabama_ 

Alaska_ 

Arizona_ 

Arkansas- 

California_ 

Colorado- 

Connecticut- 

Delaware--- 

District of Columbia- 

Florida_ 

Georgia- 

Idaho- 

Illinois-— 

Indiana- 

Iowa-r- 

26623—21236 


20 

1 

10 

9 

195 
36 
64 
16 
178 
14 
38 
. 18 
192 
94 
68 

















8 


Kansas_ 43 

Kentucky_ 20 

Louisiana_ 15 

Maine_ 35 

Maryland_ 34 

Massachusetts- 239 

Michigan_ 90 

Minnesota- 79 

Mississippi_ 8 

Missouri_ 76 

Montana_ 24 

Nebraska_ : __ 27 

Nevada_ 6 

New Hampshire_ 29 

New Jersey_ 67 

New Mexico_:_ 6 

New York_ 380 

North Carolina_,_ 33 

North Dakota_ 16 

Ohio_ 145 

Oklahoma_ 26 

Oregon_ 23 

Pennsylvania_ 143 

Rhode Island_ 26 

South Carolina_ t _ 12 

South Dakota___ 22 

Tennessee_ 29 

Texas_ 36 

Utah—_ 22 

Vermont_*_ 24 

Virginia_ 38 

Washington_ 34 

West Virginia_ 27 

Wisconsin_ 96 

Wyoming_ 8 

FOUEIUX COUXTKIES. 

Australia_ 4 

Austria___ 1 

Bermuda Islands_ 1 

Brazil_ 1 

British Africa_ 1 

British Isles_ 18 

Canada_ 49 

China_ 14 

Cuba_ 4 

Denmark_ 1 

Finland_ 1 

Formosa Islands_ 1 

France_ 2 

Germany_ 3 

Hawaii___ 7 

India_ 6 

■* Japan_•_ 14 

Norway_ 1 

Palestine_ 1 

Philippines_ 2 

Porto Rico_ 2 

Spain_ 1 

Switzerland_ 2 

Syria- 1 


Total for United States (including Alaska)_2,991 

Total for foreign countries_ 138 


Grand total-3, 129 

The foreign list does not include many municipal libraries in 
the Old World with which we have affiliation. 

Out of this Congressional Library go hooks to States from 
Maine to California for research advancement only. It is serv¬ 
ing in a research way every remote section of the country. It is 
not primarily for readers, nor is it for self-cultivation. This 
Congressional Library is not a circulating library such as the 
city or municipal library, whose collection of books are for 
26623—21236 

• * 



































































9 


cultural reading, for delight, or self-cultivation. A library like 
the one on Massachusetts Avenue and K Street will show a 
greater circulation of books than the National Library. But 
the book that goes out from the National Library goes to re¬ 
search men, whether here or elsewhere, who become stimulated 
thereby to writing books, results of investigations, which multi¬ 
ply the books that fill such libraries as this in the city of Wash¬ 
ington. So when we examine a list of the books that go out of 
the Congressional Library to the various libraries of the coun¬ 
try, it is not the number that is significant but the quality. 

GROWTH OP THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

The growth of the library has been almost phenomenal as seen 
in the light of the small expense. It is rapidly overtaking all 
other collections, and will soon have first rank in number of 
volumes of books, as it already has in Americana, in music 
material, American imprints, official documents of all coun¬ 
tries, and of the publications of learned societies throughout 
the world. There are three principal sources of this growth: 

1. Copyright deposits, two copies of each copyrighted publi¬ 
cation. 

2. International exchange of official documents, to satisfy 
which the library is allowed 100 copies of each official publica¬ 
tion of our Government. 

3. Returns from the exchange of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Other sources, such as donations and purchases, add to the 

collections, such as the Russian and Chinese collections, each of 
which is doubtless one of the richest outside of those countries. 

It would seem reasonable to expect public-spirited men in 
many countries where America is appreciated would follow the 
example of Yudin and others and donate valuable collections 
of publications for permanent use through this great research 
institution. Certainly in no other way could better use be made 
of source material. Likewise could no place be found where 
better care would be taken to insure the realization of the 
donor’s purpose. It is to be hoped that the example set by 
Smithson back in the forties, which made possible the Smith¬ 
sonian Institution, in many respects without a parallel, and 
the example of Yudin may be followed by other foreigners, and 
especially by many Americans who possess collections of rare 
value. 

Fellow Members of the House, perhaps it is not known to many 
of you that over here in the Library we have the richest collec¬ 
tion of Russian books outside of Russia. The collection includes 
certain manuscript records of the early Russian settlement in 
Alaska. In pure literature the Library includes the best edition 
of every important Russian writer. Even the fine arts are fairly 
represented, especially notable being a set of the Rovinski pub¬ 
lications, perhaps the most nearly complete in existence. It 
probably is not known to many Members of the House that over 
in the Congressional Library is the finest collection of Chinese 
books that is found anywhere outside the Empire of China. 
This collection was commenced with books brought over here by 
Caleb Cushing, the first United States minister to China under 
President Tyler. It contains volumes that can not be dupli¬ 
cated. The Choo He History, 100 and 110 volumes; the His¬ 
tory of the Eight Banners, 314 volumes; three sets of Kang 
Hee’s Dictionary, 40 volumes; and a dictionary of classical 
26623—21236-2 



10 


expressions, 120 volumes, are among the notable possessions. 
Some of them are not to be found anywhere outside of China. 

Perhaps it is not known to many that the Library contains a 
fine collection of Japanese books. It was started with a collec¬ 
tion of 9,000 volumes, and is rapidly growing. 

The Government has never become a book collector in the 
sense of the book fancier, which does not stand on cost. It 
expends only a meager sum for additions, something less than 
$100,000 per year. It consequently can not procure the rich, 
rare book or manuscript, which can only be had at a price. 
However, it does procure photostatic copies where such is allow¬ 
able and available. This has come to be a valuable feature of 
library service here in the Capital. 

PHOTO STATIC REPRODUCTIONS. 

Among the richest collections in various parts of the world 
no duplicates can be had at any price. They are not in ex¬ 
istence. This is why the old libraries of Europe and Asia are 
so priceless in value. Destruction of these sources would de¬ 
prive the world of these riches, as they could not be reproduced. 
The nearest possibility of reproduction is through the photo¬ 
static process, which has been introduced quite extensively in 
the National Library. 

When it can not secure the manuscript, it frequently has the 
privilege of photographing it, and in this way all sorts of in¬ 
valuable information is secured by this new plan of seeking 
the next thing to the rare manuscript—its photograph. 

Some days ago we were discussing the question of presi¬ 
dential disability, and in looking up the bibliography on it we 
found that back in 1881 the North American Review had printed 
four articles from four distinguished men on the subject of 
presidential disability. We looked the Library over, and could 
not find it. It was finally found by the Library in some place 
here in the city, and immediately the Library took a photo¬ 
static copy of it and supplied it to Members of the House, and 
it is now in the Library. I was shown only this morning this 
remarkable apparatus, which is one of the very valuable addi¬ 
tions to a real national library, and which is to come into more 
general use in supplying photographs of valuable documents 
now in the Library, desired by many away from Washington. 

THE WORK OF HIGHLY TRAINED EXPERTS. 

When the present librarian came to the head of the Library 
he had only to add to the facilities of the collections, housed 
in the most commodious of buildings, a library organization to 
make it a truly national library. This has been done at a 
comparatively small expense. In this organization there are 
less than 6,00 persons employed, including 148 under the Super¬ 
intendent of Buildings and Grounds. Among these are to be 
found the highest grade of scholarship and trained expert 
service. They include classifiers—that is a term that would 
not be very intelligible to the average Member of Congress unless 
he would make some study of its significance. Here is a sample 
of classification work. Here is a volume of 597 pages on the 
subject of social science. Science is only one field of investiga¬ 
tion of the boundless fields for research and which becomes a very 
small part of the whole field. Social science, the title of this 
volume, is only one little nook of the field of science. The volume 
26623—21236 


11 


contains only the titles. I picked it up in the Library just as 
an example of intensive work. I might want to find what has 
been written and printed and what is now available on the 
subject of social science, not confined to our Library, but ex¬ 
tending to the world libraries. Here it is. If I want to find 
what is in the British Museum on that subject, if I know the 
key to this volume, I can locate it and then by our international 
inter-library arrangement, I know how to proceed. I can not 
secure the book from those old libraries in Europe, as they are 
purely reference libraries and must be consulted on the spot. 
However, they can secure the book from us. We are one of the 
few libraries carrying on such service. If I wish the informa¬ 
tion in Europe’s great libraries I can have some one look the 
matter up for me. This volume is the work of the classifier, and 
displays the endless field in which he now works in attempting 
to notify the reader what has been published and to make it 
easily available. 

THE WORK OP THE BIBLIOGRAPHER. 

We have been talking on the subject of dyestuffs. The bibli¬ 
ography of dyestuff in the volume which I hold in my hand, and 
which has recently been prepared and published, contains 185 
pages. The bibliographer does not serve the general reader. The 
general reader is served in the general reading room over here. 
That is the first step in public education through the Library. 
The bibliographer serves the research man who wants to know 
what has been written on these subjects, and his business is 
such as keeping a record of all bibliographical work, past and 
present; second, preparing a list of references on all popular 
questions; third, through the Catalogue Division prepare and 
publish a bibliographical record of every book which will find a 
place on the shelves of the Library. But, besides the bibli¬ 
ographer, the research man must have the interpreter. A Mem¬ 
ber of the House told me the other day that he became involved 
in a very serious dispute upon a matter of fact that was found 
in the Spanish language. He did not know just how to settle 
it. He spoke to me, and not being a Spanish student and not being 
able to read the original, I said to him, “ Go to the Library and 
in five minutes you will find a man who will give you a transla¬ 
tion, and you can have it before you in perfect English.” It 
does not matter what language it is, they have that research 
ability over here in our Library. Men and women over there, 
gentlemen, are working like worms and you have never seen 
them unless you have gone where they are. They are doing in 
the most quiet way the most important work in research, and 
making it possible for Members of Congress to utilize the 
stored-up wisdom of the ages through the result of their re¬ 
search, as noble work as can be found anywhere in the world. 

Cataloguers, bibliographers, interpreters, and scholars in vari¬ 
ous lines of research, science, language, literature, and other 
fields, calling for the trained specialist. Through these chan¬ 
nels the legislator can have brought to his assistance at once 
necessary data, without which he could not act with the high¬ 
est degree of intelligence based upon accurate information. A 
controverted issue involving a dispute which turns upon some 
event, the only record of which may be locked up in a foreign 
language, can easily be cleared up within an hour or two of 
time, in which the experts will lay a translation of the record 
before you. 

2G623—21236 


12 


Mr. BLANTON. Will my distinguished friend yield? 

Mr. FESS. I will yield to my friend. 

Mr. BLANTON. I just wanted to pay a tribute to Mr. Wash¬ 
ington, who used to be there and who used to render valuable 
services to every Member of this House who called upon him. 
As I have said once before, he has stayed there and worked 
until the wee small hours of the morning to my certain knowl¬ 
edge on several occasions, and I tlionght it was only due to 
his memory to say that in his behalf. 

Mr. FESS. I thank my friend for his utterance of apprecia¬ 
tion. The House showed it by advancing the salary up to the 
time that he was the custodian. 

Mr. BLANTON. But the House showed it, the distinguished 
gentleman will remember, after he was dead and gone in paying 
it to his widow. 

Mr. FESS. The House showed it before he died in a hand¬ 
some advance. 

Mr. BLANTON. But considering the kind of services he 
performed, even that advance was hardly worth mentioning. 

Mr. FESS. Well, I would not say it was not worth men¬ 
tioning, but it was not commensurate with his work, I will 
admit. 

One of the surprising features, aside from the talent of the 
expert, is the wonderful facility in serving the reader, whether 
within the Library Building or the Chamber of the House or 
Senate. Any book may be handed the reader in the reading 
room within three minutes after the order. It can be delivered 
to the Congressman in the Capitol within 15 minutes after the 
order. 

WASHINGTON RAPIDLY BECOMING THE WORLD’S GREATEST CENTER FOR 

SCHOLARSHIP. 

It may not be known to all Members of the House that here 
in Washington, connected with the various research divisions of 
the Government, are located the greatest group of great scholars 
that can be found in any other center in all the world. 

I want to emphasize that statement. It is absolutely true. 
These scholars are associated with the various governmental 
departments, each of which has special library facility for its 
use. There are a score of such special libraries which a dozen 
years ago contained considerably over a million volumes of 
books and pamphlets. Among them the libraries of the Sur¬ 
geon General’s Office, the Agricultural Department, the Bureau 
of Education, the Bureau of Standards, the Fish Commission, 
and the Geological Survey are the finest of their kind in the 
world. However, the Congressional Library contains not an 
insignificant portion of the force of experts to be found in 
Washington. 

I asked an authority some days ago whether it was wise to 
collect all the libraries within one building and place them 
under the control of the Library of Congress. The answer was 
in the negative; that they all ought to be affiliated with the 
national library, as they are, but that we do not have room 
over here, and that the libraries can be better used for the 
purposes of research where they are now located. 

Mr. OLDFIELD. Will the gentleman yield for a question 
rififht there? 

Mr. FESS. I yield to my friend. 

26623—21236 


13 


Mr. OLDFIELD. You speak of these libraries in the de¬ 
partments. Does not the Congressional Library have, a copy 
of pm eh of the books that these other libraries have? 

Mr. FESS. It has not a copy. It has a good many dupli¬ 
cates, but these libraries have a good many b^oks that the 
Congressional Library does not have at all. I had that infor¬ 
mation this morning. 

Mr. OLDFIELD. I was under the impression that the 
national library had copies of all books in the departmental 
libraries. 

Mr. FESS. There are a great many books that they do not 
have duplicates of. One of the libraries on the Mall, the Sur¬ 
geon General’s library, is distinctly the finest collection of 
books of that sort that can be found anywhere in the world, 
and it is housed in rather a shabby building. I think there 
should be a fireproof building to house that library, for if it 
were lost it could not be duplicated. 

THE ONE GREAT OBSTACLE TO OVERCOME. 

The one obstacle thus far is the inadequate salary allowed. I'c 
is such that constant injury is suffered by the loss of this service 
to other fields, which has some compensation by making this 
Library the training school for library work throughout the 
country. 

A very significant incident of that sort came to my attention 
a few days ago. The man who was found wonderfully fitted 
both by nature and by acquired training to build up the musi¬ 
cal collection over here came at a low salary which reached its 
height in $3,000 per annum. He stayed here until he had 
brought this collection to the first rank in the world, not only 
in number of collection but especially in the character of the 
constituent parts of the collection, in its organization, and so 
forth. He was offered a superb salary, perhaps $10,000, to go 
to the head of some great firm, and two years ago he left the 
Library. Of course, we could not keep him. And while that is 
rather an exceptional case, it not being common, it represents 
what we have to face in this expert service. 

LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE. 

The most recently added division is the legislative reference 
service, to assist the legislator in assembling data on questions 
involving important legislation and also in assisting in drafting 
bills. During the closing year 1,604 inquiries were made of 
this service. The character of work of this service is displayed 
by what it was called upon to do. For example, on the question 
of public finance by those interested in budget legislation the 
following list of inquiries is suggestive: 

An outline of the budget systems of Latin-American countries. 

A survey of the methods of budgetary procedure in France, 
Germany, and Great Britain. 

Data on Gladstone’s independent audit reform of 1866. 

Recent criticisms in England of certain phases of the British 
budget system. 

A list of the committees in Congress having jurisdiction over 
reporting bills appropriating money for running the Government. 

Extracts giving comprehensive comment on the proposed 
national budget system for the Federal Government. 

Historical sketch of the powers of the Secretary of the Treas¬ 
ury over the annual estimates from 17S9 to 1S74. 

26623—21236 


14 

Brief digest of Federal statutes relating to the keeping of the 
departmental accounts. 

A digest of all Federal statutes relating to the annual esti¬ 
mates of appropriations. 

A brief description of the various budget systems in the 
various State governments. 

The number of States with a single budget committee with 
jurisdiction over appropriations. 

Facts regarding the effect of the operation of the Illinois 
State budget system on the governmental organization and on 
the expenditures from the treasury. 

Statistical statement showing total expenditures by the United 
States Government for all purposes from 17S9 to 1919. 

A summary of expenditures of the United States Government 
by all the departments for the fiscal years 1917, 1918, and 1919. 

Facts regarding the repayment of principal and interest of 
the allied debt to the United States. 

Total national wealth and public debt of the leading countries 
of the world. 

A comparative statement of the total taxes collected in the 
principal foreign countries from 1914 to 1919. 

Brief history of the public debt of the United States. 

Brief history of the bonds of the French and Italian Govern¬ 
ments for the past 50 years. 

Facts regarding the taxation of incomes and excess profits 
in foreign countries. 

Proposed amendments to the French luxury tax. 

To what extent have the Governments of foreign countries 
imposed a tax on retail sales. 

Extracts from the debates in the British Parliament on the 
post-war tax policy of the Government. 

Facts regarding the tax policies of the leading foreign coun¬ 
tries in 1919. 

Extent of coal and oil lands and metallic ores taxed in for¬ 
eign countries and in the States in the United States. 

A list of the States having income and inheritance tax laws. 

Amount of revenue collected through the tax on bank checks 
during the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. 

The amount of taxes collected by the different States of the 
Union in the year 1919. 

Statement on the judicial interpretation of the term “ direct 
taxes.” 

A brief discussion of the taxing power of boards or com¬ 
missions. 

This list suggests the comprehensive character as well as 
the supreme importance of the work of this service. Similar 
lists can be shown on various other topics, such as military 
affairs and diplomatic questions. The importance of this serv¬ 
ice will become apparent a» Members become acquainted with 
the facilities supplied by it. 

The above is a list of titles, or rather of subjects of inquiry, 
from Members of the House and Senate on the one subject of 
public finance. It covers a tremendous field of inquiry, and the 
same thing can be duplicated on the question of diplomatic 
relations during this discussion on the peace imbroglio and the 
same on questions touching military affairs during our discus¬ 
sion as to reorganization of the Army. The number of in- 
26623—21236 


15 


quiries is not the significant fact, but the character of the in 
quirk s. And now, fellow Members, I wish you to get this dis¬ 
tinction in library service, that the general reading room serves 
the general library purpose. The bibliographic division goes a 
step beyond and serves the research man. It does not supply 
the research man with information. It supplies him with the 
“ where you can find it.” In other words, the bibliographic 
function is best expressed by the answer of the famous judge 
who was asked by a brilliant young lawyer about a certain fact 
in law, when the judge replied to him, “Come to my office and 
I will r,t once look it up.” The brilliant young barrister said to 
him, “Judge, I am not going to your office to take your time. 
I supposed you could just answer that without any effort {it a!!.” 
The judge replied. “ Young man, the real test of a lawyer is not 
the law he knows, but his ability to find out what lie* does not 
know.” 

Now, that is the bibliographer's function, and that work over 
in the Library is very important and stupendous in its reach. 
But beyond that, and to you and me vastly more important than 
that, is the legislative reference servhe, which goes beyond 
telling us where we can find the information, which if we were 
left to pursue we would be lost in the Library, but this service 
lays before you the material it has searched out and which if 
we had to locate it would take a lifetime to find, especially if we 
should go in there without training in that particular service. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes was once asked upon returning from 
Europe, having said to some one that he had visited the British 
Museum, as to how long it would take a man to become ac¬ 
quainted with the contents of that museum. He said, “ lie 
ought to be born in the museum, to start with, and live to be 
80 years old, and never leave it.” Likewise the average Con¬ 
gressman who would want to look up data supporting pro and 
con a piece of legislation that would undertake to get at the 
bottom of it by his own research to find out what has been 
written would not have time to cover it, even if he had a dis¬ 
position to do it. And I express the hope that this new field, 
started only a short time ago, in response to House and Senate 
committees working on legislation and doing a remarkably im¬ 
portant piece of work, will receive ready support, because it 
certainly must not be discontinued, but should be enthusi¬ 
astically indorsed as one of the newest and most important 
divisions of a great national institution. This support should 
be commensurate with the growth of demands as they come upon 
the Members for legislation. 

RECAPITULATION. * 

Now, Members of the House, I have taken as much time as I 
care on the general subject of the Library. I ask the privilege 
to make a brief recapitulation of what I have attempted to say: 

The Library is still third in dimension, but overtaking the 
first two—Bibliotheque Nationale and British Museum. In 
point of quality it can not overtake them, for they have mate¬ 
rial original in form which it can never secure. But it tries 
as far as possible to secure the substance of this, most impor¬ 
tant to an American investigator, by copies and facsimiles, 
especially material relating to American history. It thus saves 
many an investigator a trip abroad or directs him where he 
should go to best advantage. 

26623—21236 


16 


It gets and preserves many volumes not suitable for a local 
library. The resu't is to save local libraries the expense of 
getting and accommodating those books. For under the system 
of interlibrary loan they are made available to investigators 
throughout the United States. 

In this respect the Library of Congress differs from national 
libraries abroad, such as the British Museum and the famous 
Paris library, which are purely reference libraries, which must 
be consulted on the spot. 

Its printed cards represent a service which is also unique, 
the one successful attempt on a general scale to centralize once 
for all the expense of (1) cataloguing books and (2) of mani¬ 
folding the catalogue entries. 

In addition it is (1) a legislative library for Congress; (2) 
the main reference library for the executive departments and 
bureaus; (3) the law library of the Supreme Court; (4) the 
Copyright Office of the United States; and (5) the national 
library to serve a special service for the entire country. 

Its reference readers number as many as those in the British 
Museum or the Bibliotheque Nationale; but the facilities ac¬ 
corded them, for example, of direct access to the shelves, sur¬ 
pass those of any other considerable reference library whatever. 
Unlike the Bibliotheque Nationale and British Museum, which 
close at sundown, the National Library is open till 10 o’clock 
every evening, and on Sundays from 2 unti’ 10. 

Its building is in cubic area about 10,000.000 cubic feet, equal 
to that of the Capitol. In floor area it greatly exceeds it. Its 
shelving capacity is sufficient to accommodate 3,500,000 volumes 
and can be increased to double that number. 

This building .is one of the most notable of modern architec¬ 
tural achievements and equally notable for the nicety with 
which it is maintained—a model in this respect for all public 
buildings. 

A trip through the Library at any time, and through the work¬ 
shops, through the various divisions—and they are numerous— 
will show you that where you would expect an immense amount 
of accumulation of dirt instead a place immaculately clean. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Walsh). The time of the 
gentleman from Ohio has expired. 

Mr. BLANTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
the gentleman may be permitted to conclude. 

Mr. FESS. I think I can conclude in 10 minutes. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas 
asks unanimous consent that the gentleman from Ohio may pro¬ 
ceed for 10 additional minutes. Is there objection? [After a 
pause. 1 The Chair hears none. 

Mr. DENISON. Will the gentleman from Ohio yield? 

Mr. FESS. I will. 

Mr. DENISON. I assume the British Museum and the Na¬ 
tional Museum of France have a lot of rare historical volumes; 
of course, that can not be duplicated anywhere in the world, 
and that the Library of Congress does not possess? 

Mr. FESS. That is true. 

Mr. DENISON. Does the gentleman know whether or not 
those Governments permit others to take photograph copies of 
those books, so that our Library can secure them? 

26623—21236 


17 




Mr. FESS. I know that is done on a limited scale, but I 
should judge there are manuscripts they would not permit to be 
photographed. 

Mr. DENISON. I would judge that to he the case. I under¬ 
stand that some of our original documents, like the Constitution, 
can not now be photographed any longer. 

Mr. FESS. I am not sure that they can not, but I am rather 
of the opinion that they can not. 

By the way, there is one line of work done in the Library 
that every Member of Congress ought to be acquainted with, 
and that is the repairing and rebuilding of manuscripts that 
are being eaten or being destroyed. I saw that process. That 
is a very valuable and very unusual work. 

Mr. RHODES. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield there? 

The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman yield? 

Mr. FESS. I yield to my friend from Missouri. 

Mr. RHODES. I followed the gentleman’s remarks with 
unusual interest, and I remember he said the Library Building 
is the most beautiful building of its kind in the world. Has 
the gentleman stated in what year the present building was 
erected ? 

Mr. FESS. The law providing for the erection of the building 
was passed in 18S6, and in that year $500,000 was appropriated 
to proceed with the construction, and it was finished in 1S97. 

While in material of distinction the Library can not match 
the great libraries abroad, it has already in certain fields col¬ 
lections of great significance and in a few preeminence, for 
example: 

American history: Its collection of manuscripts, including 
the personal papers of a dozen of the Pres.dents, from Washing¬ 
ton to Roosevelt and Taft. 

Scientific societies: Transactions and proceedings, which 
come to it through the exchanges of the Smithsonian Institu¬ 
tion ; one of the largest and most nearly comprehensive of such 
collections in ex'stence. 

Newspapers and periodicals: Bound files; a very large and 
representative collection. 

I did not verify the statement that we have a complete col¬ 
lection of the London Gazette, dating as far back as 1665, the 
oldest complete English newspaper in the Library and the only 
complete file in the country, neither did I verify the published 
statement that we have hundreds of volumes of the London 
Times, the file being complete from the beginning, 1795. May I 
ask my friend from Pennsylvania [Mr. Temple] as to that? 
Does the gentleman know? 

Mr. TEMPLE. No. 

Mr. FESS. I have seen the statement, and I could have 
easily verified it, but it did not come to my mind when I had the 
opportunity. I am reading now the list in which we are pre¬ 
eminent as a library. 

Public (official) documents: Of all countries, resulting from 
the international exchanges conducted by the Library itself. 

And in'special fields of literature, for example: 

Americana: Including the results of copyright. 

Political science. 

Law. 

And certain (unexpected) groups, for example: 

26623—21236 


Russia: The Yudin collection, 80,000 volumes, perhaps the 
most thorough outside of Russia. 

China: One of the largest, and in certain respects certainly 
the richest, outside of China. 

Its collection of music is probably the largest in the world. 
Developed for the needs of the serious investigator—composer, 
cr tic, li storian, conductor—it is rendering signal service to 
such investigators in America. For instance, in no other insti¬ 
tution in the world could the history of modern opera be studied 
or written as here. 

Its collection of prints developed on its recent side by copy¬ 
right, or its more class'cal side by gift, is constantly drawn upon 
for illustration, and the exh.bits from it interest, inform, and 
influence thousands of visitors annually. 

Its collect on of maps is constantly drawn upon not merely 
in research but in l.tigation and public boundary disputes, for 
example: Venezuela and Alaska. 

Its service to Congress includes— 

1. The issue of books specifically asked for. 

2. Lists of books responding to a particular inquiry. 

3. Comp lations furnishing, in brief, data upon a pending 
question in legislation. 

This last is the function of the Legislative Reference Serv¬ 
ice established a few years ago; a service quite indispensable 
if Congress is to have full profit of the material in the collec¬ 
tions. For this material, submerged in nearly 3,000.000 vol¬ 
umes, in numerous languages, can be extracted and reduced 
to ava'lable form only by men familiar with the collections 
and skilled in the use of the bibliographic apparatus. These 
men must be well grounded academically, good linguists, and 
with ability to express with precision the results obtained. 
Among them must be specialists in law, economics, and political 
science. 

They must form a permanent corps, for the experience and 
ability is cumulative. Also the work requires bibliographic 
apparatus—indexes, and so forth—which must go on cur¬ 
rently and be kept up. 

There is no such thing as ever finishing the catalogue. That 
is an unending piece of work. 

An efficient such corps, adequate in numbers, is indispensable 
to enable the Library to render to Congress the service to which 
it is entitled and which it can get in no other way. 

I want the membership to get this statement: The cost of it, 
even at $75,000 per annum, is relatively slight compared with 
its possible value as a tool in legislation. 

PUBLICATIONS. 

The major and most distinctive publication of the Library 
is its printed catalogue cards. But it has issued also*— 

1. “ Select lists ” of references to books, and so forth, dealing 
with topics under current discussion, especially in Congress, 
for example, lists on Cuba, Porto Rico, tne Philippines, the 
Danish West Indies, and so forth; lists of arbitration, budgets, 
currency, Federal control, immigration, railroads, trusts, and 
so forth; and guides to the literature of the law of three 
foreign countries—Argentina, Germany, and Spain. 

2. It has published in book form catalogues of certain groups 
of material; for example, of its American newspapers (files), 

26623—21236 


geographical atlases, orchestral music and operatic librettos, 
Hubbard collection (prints), Thacher collection (incunabula). 

Also calendars of certain groups of manuscripts—for example, 
of the Crittenden, Paul Jones, Monroe, Pierce, Van Buren 
papers, and of certain of the Washington papers. 

I think it would be a delight to any Member of Congress to 
spend a little time in looking over those valuable papers and 
letters of George Washington. They are very rare and can not 
be found in any other place in the world. These calendars are 
regarded invaluable accessions to the Library. 

These catalogues and calendars have received high commenda¬ 
tion as useful contributions to knowledge and research. 

3. The publication in extenso of texts in its possession is not 
its policy. But it has made two exceptions. It has published 
the records of the Virginia Co., of London, of which the sur¬ 
viving text is in i s keeping; and it has edited, and has in part 
published, the Journals of the Continental Congress, of which 
the originals are in its custody. Twenty-three volumes have thus 
far been issued, and the remainder, about 10 volumes, have been 
delayed only through insufficiency in the allotment for printing. 

4. The rest of its publications are primarily administrative— 
for example, the catalogue of Copyright Entries (which costs 
$35,000 per annum) and various manuals and handbooks to the 
use of the collec ions. 

The editing of all of these publications has been done by the 
regular staff and has involved no especial appropriation. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, I want to call the attention of the member¬ 
ship of the House to the cost of this remarkable institution 
across the way. 

COST. 

The total appropriation for the library, the copyright office, 
and the care of the building and grounds is about $720,000 per 

annum. 

Against this are receipts, copyright fee. and proceeds of sales 
of the printed cards, totaling about $200 000, so that the net 
ou lay for the library is about $520,000 per annum. 

In addition, there is, however, the expense for printing and 
binding, for which the annual allotment has been about $200,000. 

The Government Printing Office has a branch office in the 
library, and the cost goes to the printing bill, but it is really for 
the library. 

The cost of the land and building was about $7,000,000, which 
is only half the cost of a battleship in the days when the library 
was built, and only a third of the cost of a battleship at the 
present time. 

The annual expenditure is about equal to the cost of the up¬ 
keep of a modern battleship. In 15 years a battleship goes to 
the scrap heap. 

The amount annually spent for books and other material for 
collections is about $98,000. This barely suffices for the ordi¬ 
nary material, ordinary in form. 

A single American collector, Henry Huntington, has during 
the past 15 years spent over $10,000,000 in purchases for his 
private collection. There is not a book in this collection which 
should not be in the National Library of the United States, but 
the funds of the Library do not permit competition for the rarer 
material, even Americana. 

2G623—21236 


20 


The reference department alone of the New York Public 
Library, Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue, expends about 
$750,000 annually. The branches cost $840,000 more for the 
Borough of Manhattan alone. The New York Public Library 
has income-producing endowments of over $14,000,000. The 
Library of Congress has only one endowment, the Hubbard 
fund, amounting to $20,000. 

NEEDS. 

1. Additional shelving. 

A bookstack is needed to occupy the northeast courtyard. 
Provision for it has been included in the estimates for each of 
the past four years. Apparently approved in principle, action 
has been deferred (1) because of the war, (2) because costs are 
still high. 

The collections must grow indefinitely and the accommoda¬ 
tion for them is necessary. After the northeast stack an addi¬ 
tion to the rear, possibly, or preferably an auxiliary building 
on the block to the eastward with tunnel connection. 

2. Additional expert service. 

3. A salary scale sufficient to secure and retain competent 
experts as against the competition of— 

(1) Other Government establishments. 

(2) Universities and colleges. 

(3) Other research corporations. 

(4) Business. 

I do not want to close without a final statement of the Gov¬ 
ernment’s possibilities in research service. This Library is a 
complete satisfaction to the perturbed soul of the scholarly 
Edward Everett, who years ago exclaimed “ Who can see with¬ 
out shame that the Federal Government of America is the only 
Government in the civilized world that has never founded a 
literary institution of any description or sort?” The answer to 
that cry is tVj world’s finest research center. 

TWO MORE STEPS NECESSARY. 

To complete the scheme of housing the Government’s records 
steps have already been taken, to erect a modern archives 
building. The necessity of this building has long been apparent, 
and its location and erection will doubtless take place in the 
near future. The universal approval is evidenced by the unani¬ 
mous action of the House creating a commission with authority 
to proceed to select a site. Further procedure was interrupted 
by the war. 

One other step is necessary to make the largest use of the 
Capital as the world’s greatest center for scholarship—a 
national university as a research institution to utilize the vast 
library sources and the laboratory facilities connected with the 
various departments of the Government, rich beyond those of 
any other country on the globe. 

Mr. Speaker, these two additional steps are necessary to ful¬ 
fill the dream of the devotees of learning. They would at once 
give this Capital the first rank of all capitals as the world’s 
greatest intellectual center—a mecca to which the scholars of 
the future will come to add to the sum total of knowledge. 
This consummation is easily within our reach. [Applause.] 
26623—21236 


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